I Hate Christmas
by The Beetle
Summary: Christmas may be the best time of the year for most people but for a select few it is arguably the worst' After her return from Hybras Captain Holly Short comes face to face with one of her oldest fears, the LEP Christmas Ball. How will she get out of it?
1. Christmas Again?

**A.N I felt like writing somethiung Christmas themed so here it is! (Although I may be slightly late putting it up, lol) So have a merry Christmas/wonderful holiday and a I hope you get what you wanted this year!**

**NMEC's, Enjoy.**

**I Hate Christmas**

**xXBeetle Of DestinyXx**

**Chapter 1:**

**Party**

Christmas may be the best time of the year for most people but for a select few it is arguably the worst. One of these select few was currently curled up in her bed wishing that her alarm clock would go away. She was about to get up and turn it off then go back to bed when the phone rang in her living room, cursing she jumped out of bed and went to answer it.

"You can't avoid going to work forever," Foaly whinnied when Holly picked up the phone "now get your butt down here before I come round and drag you here, in your pajamas." Holly didn't even bother to answer the centaur before she hung up on him, the only answer that she could think of at the time contained an assortment of swear words and curses that would rival a swear toads vocabulary.

_Maybe I shouldn't be so grumpy today,_ Holly thought to herself as she showered and pulled on her jumpsuit _but then again it is Christmas tomorrow and today is guaranteed to be full of last minute shopping rushes which are sure to cause accidents and burglaries thanks to everyone's false sense of security_. Now in an even fouler mood Holly grabbed a nettle smoothie from her fridge and stomped out the door into the morning rush.

Holly had been pushed over two times, arrested one person and knocked three unconscious by the time she got to Police Plaza. The fairies at the booking desk parted to allow her through as they saw the temper that she was in. As soon as she had handed her unfortunate prisoner over to the cell guards she stormed straight towards the Commanders office. She was only a few steps away when she was stopped by Wing Commander Vinyáya who had been reading a poster that was stuck to a wall with tape.

"Have you read about this yet?" She asked as Holly stood by her side and leaned in to read the gnommish script.

"I don't believe that I have and I don't believe that I want to either," Holly muttered and tried to walk away from Vinyáya.

"If you're not going to read it then I'm going to read it to you," Vinyáya grinned as she grabbed Holly's elbow and pulled her back to the poster.

"Fine, I'll read it," Holly groaned and read through the poster as quickly as she could "wow a party, can I go now?"

"Are you going to go?" Vinyáya persisted "you haven't been to one of the end of year Christmas parties for three years now and I think that you might like this one, they've changed you know."

"They haven't changed enough to get me to go to one and they never will," Holly

scowled and tried to pull away again "can I go now please; I have to tell the Commander something."

"Just think about it," Vinyáya smiled "and remember that I'm not going to stop nagging you about it until you say that you're going to go."

"You could never nag me enough to get me to go," Holly replied and ran away quickly so that Vinyáya had no chance to pull her back again "ever!" Holly paused outside the Commanders office (it was still a habit from when Commander Root had been in there) and straightened her uniform. She was rather lucky that she had stopped outside because she noticed something that she would have missed otherwise-mistletoe.

"Commander I have something that I need to ask you and don't even think about getting up out of your chair," Holly said quickly as she walked into the room and found a spot out of range of the stupid plant hanging above the doorway.

"Why shouldn't I get out of my chair?" Commander Trouble Kelp asked as he looked up from a pile of paperwork that he was doing.

"Because some idiot has decorated your office without telling you and there is now a sprig of mistletoe hanging above your doorway," Holly looked around the rest of her Commanders office and noticed that it had also been decorated with coloured baubles, cards and a fake Christmas tree over in the far corner

"I noticed the decorations when I walked in this morning and had to check that this was indeed my office but I don't think I noticed the mistletoe, thanks for pointing that out," Trouble smiled and put down his pen "was there something that I could help you with or where just hiding from the Wing Commander in here?"

"How do you know about that?" Holly asked grumpily.

"She came in here this morning and asked me if I was going, of course I'd rather not go but I have to," Trouble grimaced and continued "then she asked me to pester you until you agreed to come but I don't think I said that I would so you're safe for now."

"That's good," Holly smiled as she breathed a sigh of relief "I was just going to tell you that today's going to be a busy day, I already had to arrest someone for stealing an old lady's handbag on the main street."

"And I just sent a riot squad to break up a fight on Crystal Boulevard," Trouble said as he consulted his notes "there's been seven other arrests this morning and I don't think we're going to have enough room in the cells if it gets any worse."

"Good luck with that," Holly laughed "my suggestion would be to kindly give the goblin's to Howlers Peak as an early Christmas present, but I guess you couldn't do that anyway."

"I could," Trouble frowned "but only if I got a council order for it, I wonder if the Wing Commander is still around?"  
"I'm glad that you like my idea but I think I'll get out of here before you call her in," Holly walked towards the door and pointed a warning finger at the Commander who was standing behind his chair "don't you dare move until I'm around the corner and a long, long way away from here."

"Now why would I do that?" Trouble grinned mischievously and laughed as Holly cracked her knuckles and walked out of the office, she was delightful in the morning.

Later when Holly was in her office packing up to go home she heard the clatter of hooves outside and Foaly trotted into the room with a huge grin on his face, not to mention a pair of antlers on his head.

"What are those for," Holly asked as she pointed at his head "don't tell me Wing Commander Vinyáya got you too." When Holly had gone to lunch that day Wing Commander had caught up to her outside the mess hall with a very uncharacteristic smirk on her face. When Holly had asked what she was looking so happy about and whether she had had a little too much nettle beer that morning Vinyáya had thrown one of those stupid novelty Santa hats on her head (copied from the mud man version of the story by all the big toy companies underground) and pushed her into the mess hall. Swearing profusely Holly had pulled the hat from her head, thrown it in a nearby bin and gone straight back to her office with the resolve to eat lunch later. Luckily Vinyáya had not tried another attempt to attack Holly with a piece of Christmas propaganda (although she had insisted later that it had just been for fun)

"No, it was Caballine," Foaly grinned "don't you like them?"

"What do you think," Holly scowled "enough of that though, why are you here and if Vinyáya sent you I am going to kill you."

"Steady on there," Foaly said quickly as he held up his hands in mock self-defense "Vinyáya didn't send me, I sent myself."

"You sent yourself to do what exactly?" Holly asked, suspicious.

"I sent myself here to ask if you are going to the party tonight." Foaly backed up quickly as Holly jumped up from her desk and slammed her fist into it, scattering papers and pens everywhere.

"No, I am not going," she shouted "and nothing that you say is going to convince me otherwise."

"You sure?" Foaly frowned "because everyone's going, me, Cab, Ash, Vinyáya, Grub, Commander Kelp?"

"I know they are and that still doesn't make me want to go," Holly retorted, all too aware of the emphasis that the centaur had put on the last name "and I'm pretty sure that you are purposely forgetting to mention the fact that Chix Verbil is going to be there as well."

"Of course I'm not," Foaly laughed but he wasn't very convincing "and maybe if you had a date then he wouldn't bother you."

"Don't you even think of going there you smelly centaur," Holly growled and grabbed her bag up from the floor.

"But I'm sure he wouldn't-"

"Drop it Foaly, I'm going home," Holly elbowed her way past the centaurs rump and escaped into the corridor.

"If you would just ask him he would say yes," Foaly shouted after her quickly retreating back "just because he can't find the guts to ask you himself doesn't mean you should ignore him!"

"Shut up Foaly!" Holly shouted back as she ran for the door "and I am not going to the party no matter how much you beg!" The centaur shrugged as Holly disappeared through the double doors at the end of the corridor and was about to turn away and go back to the ops booth when he felt someone poke him in the side and pull him into the recently vacated office that he had been about to leave.

"You're dead Foaly," Commander Trouble Kelp muttered as he locked the door.

**E.N Please review (that would be the best Christmas present ever!) and read on! (Or do those two things in reverse order-it could be easier)**


	2. Pixie

**A.N And here's the next chapter! (I'm being very efficient today!) This story is more of a chaptered Oneshot than an actual long fic, I put it in chapters so that its easier to read!**

**NMEC's, Enjoy.**

**Chapter 2:**

**Pixie**

Holly sighed as she threw herself down on the couch in her living room later that evening and stared at the roof of her apartment, she hated that nosey centaur. Bored with staring at the roof now Holly found the remote for the TV among a pile of paperwork on the floor and turned on the news. Headlines flashed across the screen, nothing too big, just a few robberies and house fires across the west bank and a tunnel collapse somewhere near Atlantis. Holly was about to turn the TV off when the news reporter started talking about some annual event that was happening at some big old hall near Spud's Spud Emporium. As she turned up the volume Holly rolled her eyes, it was a report on the annual LEP Christmas party how the heck could it be big enough to get on the evening news? Now completely fed up Holly turned the TV off and went to see what was in her fridge that she could possibly eat without getting food poisoning. She was about to bite into a bar of chocolate that she had found under an out of date energy bar when her communicator buzzed in her pocket.

"What is it?" Holly asked as she put down the chocolate bar and searched for her uniform. The only reason that someone would be calling her on her communicator instead of her normal phone would be some sort of emergency.

"Put your uniform on, grab your gun and get out the door," Foaly replied "I'll explain everything to you when you get here."

"Okay, but one question," Holly said as she found her jumpsuit "where is 'here'?"

"Tobermary hall, that big old six story building that's on top of the newly converted shopping centre next to Spud's," Foaly continued as Holly put him on loud speaker as she pulled on her boots and began to put her jumpsuit on "its hard to miss it, especially tonight."

"What do you…..." Holly started but trailed off as it dawned on her exactly where this place was "this better not be another way to get me to go to that party because I'm not going to fall for it."

"No, it isn't," Foaly said quickly "we've uncovered something that needs attending to and you're the only suitably skilled officer who isn't at this party."

"I'll come then but I'm not staying after I've _attended_ to this thing," Holly strapped on her belt and slipped her neutrino into its holster "you are going to tell me what this is about right?"

"Of course, I just don't want to cause mass chaos and panic in the process," Foaly whinnied "now hurry up and get down here before everything goes skywards."

"On my way," Holly muttered as she disconnected the call and sprinted out her apartment door as it locked automatically behind her.

"Thank Frond you're here," Foaly breathed as Holly rounded the corner of the building that he was stood in front of "I was beginning to think that you weren't coming after all."

"I had to take a detour because there was a gang of goblins on the main street and I didn't want to get mixed up with them when you needed me so urgently." Holly stopped speaking and checked that there was no one else around "what's the problem?"

"I was looking through the entrance records before-we've been keeping a register of everyone that went into to the building today-and I found that a maintenance worker, a pixie called Tobias Rogers went in this afternoon at two o'clock and never came out." Foaly opened a file on the miniature lap top that he held in his palm and read from it "apparently Mr. Rogers was never a maintenance worker, he is actually a notorious member in the underground criminal circles and has held a grudge against the LEP ever since we arrested his sister for murder six years ago."

"Why is this such a big problem? Couldn't you just call in a few junior officers and let them root him out?"

"I don't think you understand the problem Holly, "I'll explain it again," Foaly shut the lid on his miniature lap top and pushed it into a pocket I his strangely formal jacket "this guy is from the gangs, he is a bomb expert and pyro-technician, must I go on any further?"

"So you're saying that you think he wants to blow up the building?" Holly frowned.

"Yes," Foaly nodded "I'm sure that he wants to blow up the building."

"So what am I meant to do about it?" Holly asked.

"We need you to get up to the roof, that's where I have narrowed his position down to with a thermal scanner and some other technical stuff that you wouldn't be interested in, you have to find him, disarm the bomb and arrest him," Foaly looked at his watch "all within the next ten minutes because I think that he'll probably set the bomb off during the Commander's speech."

"Why his speech?" Holly frowned.

"Because that's when everyone will be inside and crowded around one central point," Foaly tapped his watch and turned to go back inside "I have a sneaking suspicion now that the bomb could actually be under the stage, it would make more sense than being on the roof even though the pixie's definitely up there, check the stage first and good luck."

"Thanks Foaly," Holly muttered as she shielded and followed the centaur into the building, she had to admit that it was big. Tobermary hall wasn't very old compared to a few of the heritage buildings in Haven; it had been built on top of a six story apartment block originally that had been converted into a shopping centre after it was declared unstable. The LEP had paid a squad of its retrieval sprites to go through the place and hang up all sorts of Christmas decorations to 'brighten the place up,' surprisingly it had worked. Holly managed to make her way over to the stage without stepping on anyone's feet and quickly slipped behind the large red, green and gold curtain that had been hung up behind the stage in place of the usual black one. Holly was about to crawl under the stage when somebody tapped her on the shoulder and she turned, still shielded to face the elf.

"It's beneath the stage right under where the podium is," Commander Kelp whispered as he took off the sunglasses that he had used to see Holly "be careful, it's live."

"How do you know all this?" Holly asked as she pulled an omni tool from her belt and held her neutrino in the other.

"I've been snooping around a bit myself while everyone else was drinking punch, I have to go now though before they start wondering where I've disappeared to," Trouble wiped some dust from his knees from when he had crawled under the stage "and please remember that if you can't disarm this bomb _I'm_ going to be the one standing above it when it goes off."

"It won't go off," Holly smiled as she crawled underneath the stage "I can promise you that much." The dust was thick in the air as Holly crawled and she switched her helmet's filters on, she wondered then how Trouble could have breathed without a helmet on. _Of course he would have had a helmet on; _she thought and mentally slapped herself _but he must have looked rather odd in a suit and tie with a helmet on crawling under the stage_.

"And now I would like to ask everyone to please gather round," that was Wing Commander Vinyáya speaking "as Commander Trouble Kelp says a few words." Holly realized that she was running out of time and reached out to pull herself forwards but her fingers hit something hard and cold. Holly pulled herself up beside the bomb and flipped the lid on the case, it seemed to be remote detonated and Holly could only hope that Tobias Rogers was waiting for the Commander to start talking. Meanwhile Trouble was stalling for time and although it was rather embarrassing he made sure that he purposely tripped on the stairs and dropped the papers that he was carrying onto the floor. He could hear soft cursing from below the stage as he picked them up slowly and realized that he was more than likely about to die along with everybody within the bombs radius. The bomb was being more trouble to Holly than she thought it would be and so far she couldn't find a single way to get into it, the metal case appeared to be welded around the actual bomb and for all she knew there could be trip wires and pressure sensors wired into its system.

"Good evening," Commander Kelp began to speak above her and a red light started flashing inside the metal case "I'd like to thank you all for coming here and say that it's a pleasure to be here myself." The light switched to green and Holly heard a click as something moved inside the bomb. Hoping that she wasn't about to blow the whole place skyward Holly flicked the setting on her neutrino up to the highest beam and shot through the case, starting where the light was until it lay in to pieces before her. She waited for the bang and breathed a sigh of relief when none came; quickly she slid her omni tool back into her belt and lowered the setting on her neutrino.

She had a pixie to catch.

Tobias Rogers stood on the edge of the roof watching the shuttles fly past below him. It was rather high up on the roof thanks to the shopping centre below it and it didn't hurt to mention that Tobermary hall itself was six stories high and as grand as a cathedral, or so the spiel said. He wasn't interested in its finery though, he was interested in blowing it up and he didn't care who he took with him, he wanted revenge on the LEP and revenge on the fairy who had locked up his sister all those years ago. He heard footsteps to his left side and turned to see a fairy approaching him slowly with a gun in their hand a LEP uniform on their back.

"Tobias Rogers?" The fairy called "step back from the ledge and come over here so we can have a talk."

"I don't think I will officer," Tobias replied and pressed the remote detonator that he had in his pocket, expecting the building to explode beneath his feet.

"Don't bother with that Tobias, the bomb is disarmed," the fairy who was moving slowly towards him took their helmet off slowly and put it down on the ground, uniform negotiation techniques "come down and talk to me."

"Captain Short," Tobias grinned "don't you remember me?"

"Why would I remember you Tobias?" Holly asked cautiously, this elf seemed strangely familiar to her.

"Maybe you don't but I think you might remember my sister Marina, she used to be a shuttle bus driver went crazy according to your files, murdered one of your undercover operatives?"

"I don't see where you're going with this Tobias," Holly frowned "maybe if you come over here you could explain it to me easier."

"You might remember me if I told you my birth name, I married recently-I bet that centaur friend of yours didn't tell you that," Tobias grinned and looked Holly in the eye "my real name is Tobias Polarite, my sister was Marina Polarite who you arrested six years ago to date."

"Polarite," Holly repeated as her eyes widened in shock.

"Yes, you arrested her on Christmas eve after she slit the throat of that nosey operative that was sneaking around our house, you took her away from me," Tobias stepped backwards, now millimeters away from the edge of the building. "Maybe I can't have my revenge on the whole LEP but at least I can have my revenge on the person who took my sister away."

"Wait!" Holly shouted as Tobias lifted his foot and stepped backwards again, his arms outspread as a grin widened across his face "you don't have to do this, just step down from the-"

"Goodbye my dear Captain," Tobias laughed "I shall see you again very soon." Without another word Tobias threw himself over the edge of the building and fell twelve stories to the concrete footpath below. Holly gasped and stepped backwards, he hadn't even thought twice about jumping, she had seen suicides before but they had always paused before they jumped or thought twice about it. Holly looked down just before she stepped back again and watched in horror as her booted foot went straight through the roof and the rest of her followed. Although Tobermary hall was well cared for a few things had been missed when it was cleaned up a year ago, such as a dangerously weak patch in the roof which Holly was now falling through with nothing but the floor six stories below to catch her.

**wink wink I like reviews, reviews and mangoes, XD.**


	3. Maybe

**A.N Sorry guys but this is the last chapter of this one (maybe a few of you are glad, eh?) Read on!**

**NMEC's, Enjoy this one too.**

**Chapter 3:**

**Maybe**

Commander Kelp had just finished dancing with the mayor of Haven's daughter Eloisea Wentworth when he heard a crack above his head and looked up to see something elf shaped and dark green falling rapidly towards him. Trouble quickly knocked Eloisea from his arm (he would probably get a lecture for that later) and ran forward a few steps so that he was under the falling fairy. He had to push two snogging fairies out of his way to clear the area (they turned out later to be Corporal Chix Verbil and Captain Lili Frond) and looked up just in time to catch the fairy who was falling the other way.

"Nice of you to drop by," he said to a thoroughly confused Captain Holly Short "I didn't think that you were going to come though."

"I wasn't," Holly groaned "I bet that this wasn't what you had in mind when you said that you would like to _catch_ me later."

"Not really," Trouble agreed and looked up to see that the music had stopped and the whole room was staring at him "nothing to worry about folks, this was just a training exercise, something to keep the Commander on his toes with." Many people kept staring as Trouble made his way through the crowd but the music had started again and the hushed silence had broken. Foaly and Caballine smiled at them as they walked past and Vinyáya commented on the fact that she didn't think Holly was coming to the party.

"Its alright Grub," Trouble said to his brother as he walked past and the Captain stopped gapping at them and turned back to the bunch of friends that he had been talking to before.

"He's grown," Holly commented when they were out of ear shot "the last time that I saw him at a party he wouldn't leave your side to do anything but go to the bathroom."

"A lot of things have changed since your disappearance;" Trouble smiled "a lot has changed for the good."

"But a few things for the bad right?" Holly grinned "you can't pretend that you haven't made a few mistakes while I was away Commander."

"I won't then," Trouble laughed and bent down to place her gently on the ground in the empty foyer that he had walked into "are you okay? That was along way to fall."

"I hit my head and blacked out momentarily and I think that I might have broken my arm but that's all," Holly sat up and watched her arm as blue sparks danced around it "I was lucky though."

"Very lucky," Trouble studied her for a moment before he spoke again "I never really liked this sort of party either, especially not when I am one of the main attractions for all the eligible young female fairies in Haven. So I'm not going to pass up on the opportunity to miss the rest of this thing, would you like me to walk you home?"

"Sure," Holly smiled as she stood up with a groan "I owe you one for saving my life back there."

"Don't mention it," Trouble shook his head as he moved to open the door for Holly "it's my job."

"Don't pretend that that's the only reason you do it," Holly laughed and stopped suddenly as she looked up.

"Is there something wrong Holly?" Trouble asked as he turned around in front of her, still in the doorway.

"Yes actually, I am going to _kill_ Vinyáya the next time that I see her," Holly grimaced and looked down at her boots.

"Is there any reason for this sudden revelation?" Trouble asked, now thoroughly confused.

"Yep," Holly muttered "look up." Trouble looked up and froze, there in the shadowed depths of the doorframe sat a seemingly innocent sprig of something greenish in colour with white berries.

"Is that……..mistletoe?" Trouble whispered.

"How many other white berried plants do you know about that are allowed underground and are commonly found at this time of the year?" Holly groaned.

"Good point," Trouble nodded as he slipped a hand under Holly's chin and lifted her face to his. He was surprised that she hadn't pulled away immediately and Holly stood stock still as she felt his arm wrap around her back.

"We should get going," Holly whispered when they broke apart "preferably before the Wing Commander appears and starts laughing at us."

"Truth be told I was the one who hung that piece of mistletoe up so Wing Commander Vinyáya should still be back there dancing or drinking punch," Trouble visually withered under the intensity of Holly's glare.

"Don't you dare tell me that it was you who hung up the mistletoe inside your office too," Trouble nodded guiltily and half expected a neutrino to appear against his temple "I'm going to kill you Trouble!"

"I was scared that that was going to happen," Trouble grimaced "but I think that it was worth it, don't you?" Holly shot Trouble a warning glance and started towards her apartment complex at a jog, leaving Trouble behind to catch up.

"It's rather hard to run in a suit you know?" Trouble panted as they finally stopped in front of Holly's door while she fumbled with her keys.

"That's why I ran, as well as the fact that if you ran then you would have enough time to get back to the party for the finish," Holly laughed and opened her apartment door, stepping into her apartment and taking off her boots.

"You're evil you know," Trouble laughed and looked at his watch "but your right, I have just enough time to get back to the party before the end, unless of course I had to stay here a few minutes more?"

"No," Holly smiled "I don't think that you deserve to be saved from your wonderful little party, hurry on back wont you and tell the Wing Commander that I said hello."

"I will, right after I thank her for nagging you all day," Trouble admitted as Holly turned a shade of red that rivaled the late Commander's "sorry about that but I couldn't resist, don't give me all the credit either it was partly Foaly's idea."

"Why does that not surprise me?" Holly groaned "and it was probably his idea to put that up there too." Holly pointed up at the doorframe and Trouble lifted his gaze to see……nothing.

"I don't get it Holly, there's nothing there," Trouble frowned and looked back down to see Holly doubled over laughing.

"Made you look," Holly gasped as she straightened "you better get going to your party now Commander."

"I don't think I will, I think I'm going to get lost on the way there and end up at some random pizza place in the entertainment district," Trouble flicked his head to the side "Are you thinking of getting lost later too?"

"Possibly," Holly looked at the jumpsuit that she was wearing and then at Trouble's suit "how about I meet you outside your apartment in twenty minutes wearing something considerably more comfortable and we take the back roads to avoid running into any of our LEP friends."

"Sounds good to me," Trouble pushed his hands deep into his jacket pockets and turned away from the door "I'll see you in twenty minutes."

"Oh, Trouble," Holly called after the slowly retreating Commanders back "thanks for this, I think that I might actually like this Christmas."

"I think I might too," Trouble replied and continued down the corridor, humming with his hands in his pockets and a slight skip to his step "I think I like Christmas a lot."

**E.N So I hope that you all enjoyed that and please remember to review because this is the shortest fic that I have written (in this category) and I would love to know if you like it better or worse than my longer stories and if you would like to see more this length or shorter. (Also what ships you would like to see my writing something about or story ideas even if they are just fragments-fragments can be extremely useful!)**

**Merry Christmas,**

**-Jess-**


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